How can we help this teacher? Constructive dismissal?

[Ohgoodness34]

NC as outing.
A well loved, highly respected teacher has handed in their notice, with no job lined up.

This teacher has confided in a small group of parents (who have known this teacher for years) that in fact she was bullied by HT into resigning, they think as a cost saving exercise.

HT threatened that she will make her life hell (constant performance evaluations until she breaks) or she can resign the easy way.

No issues with performance as far as we can tell.

Teacher is sad, scared and although she has sought union support is probably not up to fighting for her job.

HT is going to get away with it. Is there anything we parents can do ( bearing in mind that we don’t want to get this teacher into trouble for breaking confidentiality in the first place?).

We feel powerless

Constructive dismissal cases are horrendously difficult to bring and win.

I would be wary of doing anything thay could jeopardise this teacher's way out, especially as they have put their neck on the line by sharing private information (and should the head suspect they could be very malicious indeed).

They have my utter sympathy because I've seen too many good and honest staff be pushed out of the profession or bundled out of jobs under bullying and threat of capability for nothing more than a head or leadership team deciding they didn't fit anymore. Sadly, in my experience the feckless leaders get away with it and the bullied out teacher leaves in pieces.

You seem like a wonderful group of parents though.

This happened to me, but as a newer teacher. The deputy head ultimately was observing me daily, finding or making up fault with everything (one time she found a pencil sharpener under a drawer unit during an English lesson which showed I wasn't keeping the classroom appropriately organised. So I failed that observation. Yes, she was moving furniture around whilst I was teaching.) The (new) head never came to see me work, just went with what was recommended by the deputy. My union rep was off sick with stress(!) and the person covering didn't have time to come to my (many) meetings. In the end I just made it clear that I wasn't going to seek to reapply for my job (1 year contract). I've never taught in a school again. ☹️

My 'crime'? I wasn't one of the favoured teachers. I had to watch the favoured ones teach on several occasions to 'aid my development'. My concerns about their teaching weren't listened to. They did however feature heavily in the damning Ofsted report the term after I left. Teaching and learning was a massive fail. The school was forced into an academy. The deputy head disappeared from the staff list on the website shortly after. I never found out what happened. I felt for the kids. Behaviour was very poor at the school but systems for dealing with it actually rewarded the poor behaviour. That was the deputy as well.

A relative was forced out of a senior role, again ultimately down to being disliked by the new head. She was fortunate to make contact with a nearby school who took on several staff members forced out by that head.

Sorry, but if the head has decided to go down that route it's so so difficult to fight, however unjust it is.

If you post in Employment Issues you will get good advice from really helpful specialists. Although, I'd suggest the actual teacher does this herself as you'll get a wigging over there on the foolishness of the breaking confidentiality bit!

I've also seen this happen before. If they're after her blood, then just imagine what they'd do with the fact that she's confided in parents of the school (even if they're personal friends. Particularly if they're personal friends).
Sadly, I think there's very little you can do.

The teacher may be being bullied or there may be issues with her work that you are unaware of. Teachers who are popular with parents are not necessarily the best teachers. They might be great at lots of the stuff that parents see (being friendly to kids at drop off / pick up, good at dealing with friendship issues etc) but less good at very important stuff that parents don't see (planning lessons, behaviour management, giving effective feedback etc).

Im so sorry that this happened to you @Mummymummymummummum

I know that the rest of the staff are behind her but fear for their jobs.

We feel complicit as we can’t say anything because of the confidentiality issue. And yes, this is our fear that the repercussions will be worse for this teacher if anyone finds out that she confided.

HT is getting away with it because of this.

We suspect another member of staff has been forced to leave also.

Agree @Neolara but if this was the case it’s come out of the blue and HT’s language was sinister (I’ll make your life hell until you want to leave anyway).

I haven’t posted in legal, because I’m sure legal advice would be go to their union (which they have done). I don’t think she has the strength to fight it.

We want to do something on her behalf but don’t think we can. So this amazing teacher walks away and we all know HT has bullied her out of her job.

Do you know what the Union are doing? Ime , they themselves are very quick to push for constructive dismissal - or advising staff to leave-, rather than presenting evidence to Heads and putting them back in their place.

I would recommend they speak to an employment solicitor, either directly or via their union. I'd also encourage all the staff to band together on this, a solicitor acting for

If the HT has been stupid enough to say things like "I'll make your life hell" then they will be out on their ear if it gets taken up.

What can you do? I'd suggest (anonymously?) advising the head of governors. Ultimately they are legally responsible for what happens in the school. Tell them the overall situation with respect to other staff members too and report it as bullying.

I worked in a similar environment two decades ago. New boss out of their depth and bullying staff (mostly former nurses) and blaming them for lack of performance rather than her poor strategy.

I was part of a group that got a tongue lashing one morning, and when she left the room I went to her office and told her never to speak to me like that again. She never did after that, and I learnt you need to tackle bullies head on.

If they want her out, they'll find a way to do it eventually, even if she wins now. So she is best to go. Only she can decide whether negotiating a good reference is more or less important than winning a dismissal case-she can't have both.

to be honest having been forced to leave a job myself (not teaching) sometimes it is better to just walk away.

If she is a good teacher then a bit of supply work for a term (you can clock up a lot in some areas) will give her time to get another job. There are still schools in our area advertising for people for september, maternity leaves are always up for grabs at random times too.

fighting really is unlikely to be worth the stress